It was a bit naughty of I.M. Beck to shift his support of Simone Zammit Endrich's right to enjoy her constitutional right to freedom of expression. Voltaire was prepared to die for one's right to say one's piece whether or not he agreed with what was said.

He was surely over such an important principle not prepared to quibble, to prevaricate, to seek partial opt-outs, to hide behind ostensible moral imperatives, to search for get-out options or otherwise to whittle down his principles and dilute them for a cynical and pragmatic objective. Either you uphold Voltaire's principle without qualification or conditions or you do not. There are no half measures, no other possibilities and no cowardly fence sitting. He has nailed his colours to the mast and should stick to his position.

If in the same column, he also derides the views of a vice-president just because she is the director of a dance academy, does that mean a road sweeper's views can never be valid?

I trust I.M. Beck is neither a misogynist nor a card carrying xenophobe because the lady happens to be an American. He is a gentleman at heart and can do much better than that.